New owners, husband and wife team Paul and Helen Beatham, and Andrew Glenister bought The Red Herring and its upstairs pub Skebanga’s in 2009, and are using the quieter winter months to make some changes to the popular venue.
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| New owners Andrew (left) and Paul |
- To offer diners a fun night out meeting new people, sampling local wines paired with delicious new dishes, and
- To test-drive these new dishes in order to work out what goes down well with the patrons.
Paul, who has recently qualified as a chef, and Andrew plan on phasing out the existing standard fare menu and instead offering a selection of specials on a chalk board that will change depending on available fresh ingredients, and the whim of the chef on any given day!
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| A great team in the kitchen |
Last night saw a group of around 16 of us diners seated communally at the long wooden tables in front of a crackling log fire, ready to enjoy a taste sensation or 3.
Although the standard format of these evenings is to have a representative from the featured wine estate on hand to talk about the wines served with each course, Andrew took over the role on this occasion as the relevant wine fundis from
Lanzerac were at a wine awards event.
Andrew and Paul make a great team, with Andrew definitely more the smooth talker while Paul gets right down to business. Each took a few minutes to run through the food and wine we were going to be enjoying and by the time the first course of ciabatta bread with basil pesto, sun dried tomato pesto and potted meat arrived I was practically drooling!
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| Serving up a feast |
Next up was a delicious starter of artichoke hearts stuffed with goats’ milk cheese, and the main course was slow roasted pork belly with cranberry, caramelised apples and sage. The pork literally melted in the mouth.
Nougat semifreddo with honey rounded off the dinner beautifully.
The chosen
Lanzerac and
Lourensford wines that accompanied each course really did work wonders together as far as taste sensations go. I’m not a big fan of vino to be honest, and neither is G, but we both enjoyed
the experience of wine pairing and this, together with a set menu of things we would possibly not have ordered ourselves, we decided, was a great way to stretch ourselves, 'cuisinally' speaking.
We’ll definitely be back for another one of these great evenings out, and next time we’ll be sure to take some friends along too.
(Images source)
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